fluffythewondercat
|
posted on May 26, 2004 10:44:59 AM
Listings are down to 360 today...from 750 or so a month ago.
Advertising in Bay Area publications has ceased, as far as we can tell, which is a big change from three months ago when AD ads were everywhere.
The new and "improved" AuctionDrop home page now says that franchise opportunities are available. No more corporate-owned expansion stores?
Anyone know what's up?
--
|
parklane64
|
posted on May 26, 2004 11:42:16 AM
All the movers and shakers at AD are probably busy writing a book......
|
Damariscotta
|
posted on May 26, 2004 02:14:24 PM
I see that at least one of the other "eBay service" sellers I have purchased from must be having trouble getting consignments. They were pretty fussy (according to their terms) about what they would take, but it seems like they are now taking leftovers from storage lockers (used clothing, 1.00 items such as books, CDs, etc.
Perhaps part of the problem is that so many items are not suitable for on-line auction selling (unless you are willing to give them away). And people with any savvy about their property might not want to lose the 40% fee to the service. I was surprised that these places didn't do better.
|
stopwhining
|
posted on May 26, 2004 02:54:53 PM
i am surprised they last that long,how do they pay their bills with their ebay commish??
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
|
fluffythewondercat
|
posted on May 26, 2004 03:52:33 PM
it seems like they are now taking leftovers from storage lockers
AD came up with the good idea of doing fundraisers for schools as a way of augmenting the product stream, but I don't see that they're getting too many high value items that way. At one point they made a foray into electronics surplus, but that is a hotly-contested market here in Northern California since so little computer surplus is actually worth anything. AD has put up many PC boards that are essentially worthless. I don't know if they are researching this market or not; it doesn't look that way.
These seem like desperation moves to me...thus the giant sucking sound.
As many of you know, I consigned two items to AD for the experience (and to use a $50 coupon I was given). I would not consign anything else. The pictures were nice but descriptions were slipshod and mainly written with an eye towards shielding AD from any legal liability. That has to scare off bidders.
--
|
Reamond
|
posted on May 26, 2004 04:51:31 PM
With over all sell-through rates at eBay at 40% it is no wonder their business is tubing.
I would love to know the standard deviation for the 40% figure. I'm betting the 5% tail may be as low as 70% STR.
The bottom line is that with a 40% sell-through rate there should be a lot of sellers going out of business, if they are in fact running a for profit business. The auction listing count should also be hitting a ceiling too.
|
stopwhining
|
posted on May 26, 2004 04:55:19 PM
there is really no way we know how many ebay sellers drop out ??
i know some of the veteran sellers are struggling,their listing fee has to be a big expense ,then comes the paypal fee.
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
|
neroter12
|
posted on May 26, 2004 04:59:44 PM
fluffy, whatever happened with the consigned items - did they do well?
|
fluffythewondercat
|
posted on May 26, 2004 05:32:21 PM
neroter: Nope, not particularly. I would have been up the proverbial fecal matter creek if I hadn't had the $50 coupon.
--
|
neroter12
|
posted on May 26, 2004 06:58:12 PM
sorry to hear that fluff. (I figured you could do it yourself better if not as good as anyway!)
|
ebayvet
|
posted on May 26, 2004 09:49:06 PM
They have 99.9% positive fb with over 12k unique - That is pretty impressive. I think their fees, and $50 minimum value will make their model not work. It's an interesting idea, but I don't see it really working on a large scale.
Friends don't let Friends say stupid things like Friends don't let friends vote Republican!
|
lovepotions
|
posted on May 26, 2004 10:34:59 PM
I think with all of the new locations auctiondrop can't possibly be sharing an account with all of the locations.
Maybe each store (after the original) has an ID and the actual name has nothing to do with auctiondrop??
Imagine bidding on what you though could be combined into one payment only to find one item is in San Jose and the other in San Diego. And different people sent you seperate invoices etc etc.
Who would Ebay send the sellers EOA to and who would they bill?
My guess is that it runs like a Beauty Salon or a Real Estate agency. Each seller is in charge of his own customers but all under the company branding.......
http://www.lovepotions.com
|
bob9585
|
posted on May 27, 2004 07:11:07 AM
Their TOS disallows pickup or combining sales, probably because of what you cite.
|
fluffythewondercat
|
posted on May 27, 2004 07:37:11 AM
lovepotions: There is in fact only one seller id: auctiondrop.
AD deals with that issue by transporting all consigned items to its warehouse in San Carlos, CA. The photography and listing is done there as well. I assume that part of their plan to expand outside the Bay Area was to set up another warehouse in L.A.
As bob pointed out, AD does not combine. They did offer in-person pickup prior to March 1 of this year.
--
|
fluffythewondercat
|
posted on May 27, 2004 07:48:58 AM
I was thinking about this last night. The whole photography/listing/shipping setup must be underutilized due to AD's low number of consignments, and I thought "Why don't they sell for their own account?"
It doesn't make sense that they don't sell their own goods.
They've got 404 auctions up this morning, which is only about 58 auctions a day. There are sellers reading this who do more than that all by themselves. Heck, once my next shipment arrives (next week) I'll be able to list 100 auctions a day with ease.
Wouldn't it be a lot smarter to source some merchandise for themselves that they could sell during slow consignment periods?
--
|
lovepotions
|
posted on May 27, 2004 01:27:55 PM
Auctiondrop already sounds like an inefficient system.
With 6.5 MILLION in VC funding and Ebay subsidising their advertising costs you'd think they could be able to manage more volume.
They should take some clues on how superpawn does it. They have one ID and 40 stores sharing it. One single integrated payment system that routes payments to the proper stores. Superpawn now uses the ID ztradingpost
http://www.lovepotions.com
|
stopwhining
|
posted on May 27, 2004 01:40:52 PM
it is not how many you list or how many receive bids,it is how much you make!
no VC would even bother to come to the phone for this stupid idea .
They should train the accountants at HR BLOCK to list on ebay in slow seasons.
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
|
fluffythewondercat
|
posted on May 27, 2004 02:48:58 PM
I beg to differ, Stop, it IS how many you list.
Product price is like a pyramid with exclusive luxury goods at the apex. Unfortunately for AD, many of their luxury-goods consignors are not willing to go the $1 no-reserve route, so the items languish (and get relisted) with hefty reserves.
The last time I was at the AD store in San Carlos, someone had just consigned four new or nearly-new Chanel handbags, complete with boxes. When they came up for auction, each started at $500...which is not all that much less than the new price in retail stores, last time I looked, and certainly no less than you can get it in a duty-free shop.
If you as a seller don't have a guaranteed sale every time you list an item, you'd better have a copious product stream and the ability to list in very large numbers. Volume counts. Especially when you have limited yourself to selling items no bigger than a bread box.
--
|
fluffythewondercat
|
posted on May 27, 2004 02:51:09 PM
Oh, and our local H&R Block office is closed from April 16 to January 1.
Yep, they pay 12 months rent and only occupy the place 3 1/2 months out of the year. Love those margins!
--
|
stopwhining
|
posted on May 27, 2004 04:16:46 PM
the case of the 4 chanel bags is a case of not knowing your market and therefore ,not knowing how to price your product accordingly.
it has nothing to do with how many you need to list to do well.
i assume the owner of these handbags just dont know ebay .
i wonder where did she get those handbags??
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
|
stopwhining
|
posted on May 27, 2004 04:26:39 PM
River Oaks is the most expensive neighborhood in the city,where ken lay,andy fostow etc live.There was an antique store called River Oaks antique and it folded several years ago.
But we also have another store across from a hospital thrift shop in another part of town where dealers shop,the lady knows older women who used to clean houses in River oaks and they will take home things which the lady of the house gave them.
Since these cleaning ladies never report their income or paid into ss,they are now in need of cash to buy food,so they will sell her those items,not in best shape but worth something.
Or they past on and left those items to their offsprings who would rather sell them so they can have their nails done!!
Now if we can only venture into Beverly Hills and go through their garbage cans !!
Or befriend their maids!!
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
|
parklane64
|
posted on May 27, 2004 04:35:58 PM
My brother, now retired, was a cop in Pacific Grove for decades. He started with the city as a garbageman to get on the payroll. His route was 17 mile drive. Holy Moly the stuff he use to bring home! It has a scratch on it, toss it and get a new one!
|
